Mykonos: 1 million investment in a chocolate plant

Five entrepreneurs have created the first chocolate production unit on Mykonos, with an investment amounting to about one million euros. The company operates under the name Mykonos Chocolate and, according to the report, built its own production plant on the island from scratch, rather than contracting production out to third parties on the mainland. Sixteen chocolate flavours, spread across three product categories, are already on the production line.

Co-founder and chief executive of the company is Aristotelis Limnaios, who placed the venture in the context of local production. “Excellent products are made on Mykonos, such as cheeses and beer. But we wanted to create a premium product, a chocolate that travels easily with the visitor when they leave the island,” he said. The business plan provides for a sales network in hotels and delicatessen shops, the operation of its own store under the name Mykonos Chocolate Boutique, and exports abroad.

The move fits a broader trend recorded in recent years on the Cycladic islands with heavy tourist traffic: a shift from a purely service-based economy towards products with a local identity that can be carried away. Mykonos already has cheese production, with products such as kopanisti, as well as a brewery, but the processing sector remains small in relation to the size of the tourist market. The main obstacle for such units on the islands is the cost of setting up, securing space, and the seasonality of demand, which limits operation to a few months of the year.

The open question for the venture is whether production can be sustained by markets off the island during the winter months, so that the plant can operate continuously. The turn to exports, which is part of the company’s plans, moves in that direction. Support for innovative entrepreneurship in tourism is already a matter of regional policy, with the Region of the South Aegean having recently launched funding of 2 million euros for innovation in tourism. The company has not released figures for the number of jobs or the expected turnover.